68 Items Tagged

Geographic Oddities

Praia dos Cristais

Tiny Spanish beach covered in sea glass.

Sha Tau Kok

A border town divided by the Hong Kong–China line, where entry still requires a special permit.

Port Jervis, New York

Tri-States Monument

A pair of 19th-century granite markers symbolically record where the state boundaries of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania intersect.

Wolford Chapel

Despite its location in the English countryside, this chapel is the property of Ontario, Canada.

Ushuaia, Argentina

Postal del Fin del Mundo

The southernmost postal office in South America.

Markleysburg, Pennsylvania

Old Tri-State Monument

This original Mason-Dixon line cairn placed in the 1760s was put in the wrong location because of the gravitational pull of the Allegheny Mountains.

Ras Angela, Tunisia

Ras Angela

The northernmost point of continental Africa—or is it?

Berlin, Germany

Steinstücken Exclave

A helicopter memorial commemorating what was once the only way to access this West Berlin exclave.

Chanute, Kansas

Center of Google Earth Mural

A Google software engineer's Easter egg led to what may be the world's most unusual saved screenshot.

Mannheim, Germany

Mannheim Quadratestadt

In this German city center, the streets have no names.

All illustrations: John Mata for Atlas Obscura

Puzzle Monday: On the Map Crossword

AO Puzzles July 31, 2023

Screenshot of the wilderness surrounding Buffalo Lake, which is located within the “Zone of Death.”

In the Yellowstone National Park Zone of Death, You Might Legally Get Away With Murder

A 50-square-mile patch of Yellowstone National Park in Idaho might just be the perfect place to commit a crime, thanks to a legal loophole.

The Podcast Team June 3, 2025

Nahwa.

Nahwa, United Arab Emirates

Nahwa

A small United Arab Emirates territory within an Omani enclave within the United Arab Emirates.

Podcast: Moose Boulder

How far would you go to find the largest island in the largest lake on the largest island in the largest lake on the largest island in the largest lake in the United States?

The Podcast Team April 27, 2023

Highway 412

Guymon, Oklahoma

U.S. Route 412

Is this 47.7-mile stretch of highway the longest straight road in the United States?

Marker at the Chamizal National Memorial

Chamizal National Memorial

This site honors the end of a 100-year boundary dispute between the United States and Mexico—all started by a river's shifting course.

Ilha dos Tigres

In 1962, the ocean severed this peninsula—and the village that sat on it—from the Angolan mainland.

1915 Michigan border post

Michigan's Lost Peninsula

This small piece of Michigan is entirely surrounded by Ohio.